A survey by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that 17 percent of the population lives below 50 percent of the median income indicating the inequality in the income distribution within the country.
The survey titled ‘Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2019’ noted that in Male’ the median income per month per head was at MVR 6250 while in Atolls it stood at MVR 3200. It also said that for the whole country the median income per month per head stands at MVR 4417.
The Survey highlighted that income inequality at Atolls is at 29 percent while it is at 5 percent in Male’.
It noted that there is a huge income disparity between Male’ and Atolls. It said that nearly 60 percent of the population gets less than MVR 5000 per person per month and less than 1 percent of the population get MVR 20,000 and above per person per month.
The survey also indicated that people in the Atolls get less per capita income than those in Male’. It said that almost 60 percent of the Atoll population gets less than MVR 3762 per person per month while only 18 percent of the Male' population gets this amount.
The survey highlighted that the major source of income persisted to be wages and salaries for both Male’ Atolls. It showed that more than half of the total household income (58 percent) came from wages and salaries in the Atolls and nearly two-third (67 percent) in Male’.
